A Shopsmith that never was?

solicitr · Post by **solicitr** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:37 pm

Just browsing the Patent Office site for fun, I found this remarkable patent by SS Inc. in the mid-80s:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Pars ... ABST/table

The patent itself is for a reversible 510-style table: but its purpose is for mouting in an undertable-shaper mode: i.e. the carriage can be hinged at either end like a Mark VII. The whole machine looks stylistically different from the Mark V- more planar and sharp-edged: in fact SS about the same time filed design patents (i.e. patents on appearance) for the headstock and base which are definitely a makeover of our familiar Mk V:
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Pars ... /Shopsmith);
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Pars ... /Shopsmith

Did SS in the 80s consider producing a "Mark VIII" or something but eventually not go ahead with it?

EDIT: corrected the links to the main pages; click 'images' to see the illustrations

Greenvilleguy · Post by **Greenvilleguy** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:20 am

Bill,

Browsing the patent site for fun???

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 1:32 pm

Are the picture worth accepting and installing the plugins?

I'm reluctant to install plugins and such on my computer unless I know they will benefit me. Many times the plugins slow down other processes in the computer and can cause conflict with something else I already have installed. Therefore I'm very cautious about installing anything extra on an already working and setup system.

My caution comes from constantly having fix my daughter's computers by removing various plugins and "must have' programs for the computer. It seems the grandkids think that since you have 120 gig harddrive it must be filled. They collect music, videos and programs in such quantities that they couldn't listen, watch or use all that they squirrel away in a normal lifetime. Yet if they get an offer to load a new program, plugin, or update and they jump on it. At one point it took nearly 5 minutes for the computer to start, the time was from loading all the programs they managed to get loaded into their startup file.

I can't see the pictures at the above site without a certain plugin (per instructions on the site). However before I install these I would like to know if the pictures are really worth it?
Ed

solicitr · Post by **solicitr** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 2:02 pm

I can't really judge how much the patent drawings are 'worth it' to you- I started going there to crib accurate drawings of old guitars and accessories. But the plugin required is simply QuickTime, Apple's basic image and video viewer, which is small and unobtrusive and causes no trouble that I've ever had on either a Mac or a PC.

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 4:53 pm

solicitr wrote:I can't really judge how much the patent drawings are 'worth it' to you- I started going there to crib accurate drawings of old guitars and accessories. But the plugin required is simply QuickTime, Apple's basic image and video viewer, which is small and unobtrusive and causes no trouble that I've ever had on either a Mac or a PC.

Solicitr
Quicktime might be unobtrusive on your system but the last time I installed it on my last computer it tried to take over like gang busters!!!!!!!
In fact it tried every trick known to man to try to get me to make it my video viewer of choice. I finally got fed up and flushed it, which was a project in itself. It seems Quicktime doesn't like to be removed and doesn't go quietly.

However the site actually spells out two other programs for IE users to view drawings. One AlternaTIFF: http://www.alternatiff.com/ and the other interneTIFF: http://www.internetiff.com/

I see quicktime mentioned for Apple users but since I have windows and have lived with quicktime's antics I think I will pass.
Ed

solicitr · Post by **solicitr** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 7:10 pm

Ah. Actually I do use it as my default, liking it better than Windows Picture Viewer and Media Player. But then I'm a Mac guy stuck in PC exile for now.

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 7:20 pm

This is my last posting from a MAC the experiment was a failure, MAC running MAC OS X may be great and I know MAC's running Windows are supper but MAC's running Windows under OS X is a disaster.

As for Quicktime, the latest version is very compatible with both Windows XP SP2 and Vista.

Len · Post by **Len** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:17 pm

Well, I don't speak Mac, but I'll talk to ya! That Quick Time thingy is a pain on a PC as was mentioned; it is nigh impossible to get off the system once on.

solicitr wrote:Ah. Actually I do use it as my default, liking it better than Windows Picture Viewer and Media Player. But then I'm a Mac guy stuck in PC exile for now.

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 8:50 pm

I certainly can not speak for others, but I do have QuickTime on my PC and I did load the update and I did view THE picture. QuickTime is not my default viewer, but it does not cause me any pain:D. No matter what I did, I could not see more then page 7 out of 14, or something like that. Was there more then the one picture?

solicitr · Post by **solicitr** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 11:58 pm

Tim:
I didn't realize these pages were time-limited: shoulda linked to the title page. Anyhoo, click on "Full text", then click on the red button marked "images". After that the gold browsing arrows should work to page through the graphics.